Imagine the Headlines if a Losing Republican Gave Stacey Abrams’ Speech

At long last, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams announced on Friday that she was no longer in the running for the state’s governorship, bringing to a belated end the divisive and bitter post-election battle with Republican Brian Kemp.

But in her “this is not a concession” speech, Abrams blasted her opponent and the Georgia election process as undemocratic and, essentially, illegal. It was the mirror image of Trump’s 2016 “rigged election” warnings – warnings the media used to portray The Donald as a dangerous would-be totalitarian who would bring civil war to America if he lost to Hillary Clinton.

But when Abrams does it? Oh, the media fully agrees!

It’s so funny how that works.

“I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election,” Abrams said. “But to watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state baldly pin his hopes for election on suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling.

“Pundits and hyperpartisans will hear my words as a rejection of the normal order,” she said. “You see, I’m supposed to say nice things and accept my fate. They will complain that I should not use this moment to recap what was done wrong or to demand a remedy. You see, as a leader I should be stoic in my outrage and silent in my rebuke. But stoicism is a luxury and silence is a weapon for those who would quiet the voices of the people. And I will not concede because the erosion of our democracy is not right.”

The media has gleefully picked up and bull-horned Abrams complaining narrative, writing feature-length stories about all the ways Kemp conspired to keep black people from voting in Georgia. His sins included:

Efficiently purging old registrations off the voter rolls because people moved, died, or had failed to vote in the last two or three elections.

Putting people on a pending registration list because their information didn’t match state databases. These people were still eligible to vote, but there was “confusion,” so that’s the same as voter suppression.

There were long lines at the polls. This is Kemp’s fault, somehow.

Georgia closed a bunch of polling places over the last six years. This is also Kemp’s fault, even though the decisions were made wholly by the individual counties.

Essentially, Kemp is being accused of voter suppression for doing nothing more or less than securing the integrity of the Georgia election process. Apparently, making sure everyone votes in accordance with state and federal law also makes it impossible for black Democrats to vote. We would ask why that is, but we’d probably just get accused of racism.